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The Baby-Sitters Club Mysteries #10
Stacey and the Mystery Money
When Stacey gets caught with a counterfeit ten dollar bill, the Baby-sitters search for the crook spreading phony money around Stoneybrook.
164 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 1, 1993
17 people are currently reading
387 people want to read
About the author
Ann M. Martin
1,120 books3,073 followersAnn Matthews Martin was born on August 12, 1955. She grew up in Princeton, New Jersey, with her parents and her younger sister, Jane. After graduating from Smith College, Ann became a teacher and then an editor of children's books. She's now a full-time writer.
Ann gets the ideas for her books from many different places. Some are based on personal experiences, while others are based on childhood memories and feelings. Many are written about contemporary problems or events. All of Ann's characters, even the members of the Baby-sitters Club, are made up. But many of her characters are based on real people. Sometimes Ann names her characters after people she knows, and other times she simply chooses names that she likes.
Ann has always enjoyed writing. Even before she was old enough to write, she would dictate stories to her mother to write down for her. Some of her favorite authors at that time were Lewis Carroll, P. L. Travers, Hugh Lofting, Astrid Lindgren, and Roald Dahl. They inspired her to become a writer herself.
Since ending the BSC series in 2000, Ann’s writing has concentrated on single novels, many of which are set in the 1960s.
After living in New York City for many years, Ann moved to the Hudson Valley in upstate New York where she now lives with her dog, Sadie, and her cats, Gussie, Willy and Woody. Her hobbies are reading, sewing, and needlework. Her favorite thing to do is to make clothes for children.
http://us.macmillan.com/author/annmma...
Ann gets the ideas for her books from many different places. Some are based on personal experiences, while others are based on childhood memories and feelings. Many are written about contemporary problems or events. All of Ann's characters, even the members of the Baby-sitters Club, are made up. But many of her characters are based on real people. Sometimes Ann names her characters after people she knows, and other times she simply chooses names that she likes.
Ann has always enjoyed writing. Even before she was old enough to write, she would dictate stories to her mother to write down for her. Some of her favorite authors at that time were Lewis Carroll, P. L. Travers, Hugh Lofting, Astrid Lindgren, and Roald Dahl. They inspired her to become a writer herself.
Since ending the BSC series in 2000, Ann’s writing has concentrated on single novels, many of which are set in the 1960s.
After living in New York City for many years, Ann moved to the Hudson Valley in upstate New York where she now lives with her dog, Sadie, and her cats, Gussie, Willy and Woody. Her hobbies are reading, sewing, and needlework. Her favorite thing to do is to make clothes for children.
http://us.macmillan.com/author/annmma...
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Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews
September 23, 2016
this is my first time reading this book!
while on a sitting job for charlotte at the mall, stacey unknowingly receives counterfeit money as change and tries to use it to buy some earrings. she is mortified when the sales clerk tells her the money is counterfeit, so she decides to try to find the counterfeiters. meanwhile a weird new family (featuring a pair of 8th-grade twins, plus a sitting charge-age kid) moves to town, and it seems like they're in the witness protection program or something, because none of them can remember their own names and kristy finds a school ID that has a different name for one of them. stacey dates the 8th-grader twin boy, and eventually she finds out that
highlights:
-such a perfect stacey quote: "I like to split the cost when I'm dating, especially if it's a first date. I want the guy to know I'm indepedent."
-when claud says that money from canada looks like play money, charlotte says that she thinks our money looks like play money to people in other countries. charlotte johanssen (an eight year old) is way more mature than claudia kishi (a thirteen-year old, and her supposed caretaker).
-stacey's hypotheses about what goes on in the faculty lounge: "do they lie around on couches and eat chocolates? is it a pretty room, with decorative lamps and nice wallpaper and lots of big, comfortable chairs and the sweet smell of potpourri wafting through it?"
-terry's dad is a counterfeit cop for the secret service! I didn't even know that was an aspect of the secret service. I thought this was totally unrealistic and actually had to do some research into the secret service to verify that it was accurate. do the secret service people really constantly need to move into new towns and be undercover, changing their names all the time? if so, do they actually have kids that move with them and change their names too? what a weird/crappy way to grow up.
lowlights/nitpicks:
-there's a reference to mrs. kishi not needing to whisper in the library since she's in charge of it. NOBODY NEEDS TO WHISPER IN THE LIBRARY. AHHHHH!
-terry: "I never understand why people get tattoos if they're going to be criminals." what an unnuanced way of looking at the world. as though everyone who ever commits a crime has known for their whole life that they are going to be a criminal.
charlotte johanssen outfit:
-"Charlotte had gotten dressed up for our day out, in a pink skirt and a white, frilly blouse."
-stacey outfits:
-"I was wearing my favorite white miniskirt with a new blue-and-white-striped sweater."
-"What about your white sweater and those blue-and-white polka-dot leggings?...You look great in that outfit, especially when you put that white bow in your hair."
snacks in claudia's room:
-m&ms (n.s.)
-pretzels (n.s.)
-red licorice (n.s.)
while on a sitting job for charlotte at the mall, stacey unknowingly receives counterfeit money as change and tries to use it to buy some earrings. she is mortified when the sales clerk tells her the money is counterfeit, so she decides to try to find the counterfeiters. meanwhile a weird new family (featuring a pair of 8th-grade twins, plus a sitting charge-age kid) moves to town, and it seems like they're in the witness protection program or something, because none of them can remember their own names and kristy finds a school ID that has a different name for one of them. stacey dates the 8th-grader twin boy, and eventually she finds out that
highlights:
-such a perfect stacey quote: "I like to split the cost when I'm dating, especially if it's a first date. I want the guy to know I'm indepedent."
-when claud says that money from canada looks like play money, charlotte says that she thinks our money looks like play money to people in other countries. charlotte johanssen (an eight year old) is way more mature than claudia kishi (a thirteen-year old, and her supposed caretaker).
-stacey's hypotheses about what goes on in the faculty lounge: "do they lie around on couches and eat chocolates? is it a pretty room, with decorative lamps and nice wallpaper and lots of big, comfortable chairs and the sweet smell of potpourri wafting through it?"
-terry's dad is a counterfeit cop for the secret service! I didn't even know that was an aspect of the secret service. I thought this was totally unrealistic and actually had to do some research into the secret service to verify that it was accurate. do the secret service people really constantly need to move into new towns and be undercover, changing their names all the time? if so, do they actually have kids that move with them and change their names too? what a weird/crappy way to grow up.
lowlights/nitpicks:
-there's a reference to mrs. kishi not needing to whisper in the library since she's in charge of it. NOBODY NEEDS TO WHISPER IN THE LIBRARY. AHHHHH!
-terry: "I never understand why people get tattoos if they're going to be criminals." what an unnuanced way of looking at the world. as though everyone who ever commits a crime has known for their whole life that they are going to be a criminal.
charlotte johanssen outfit:
-"Charlotte had gotten dressed up for our day out, in a pink skirt and a white, frilly blouse."
-stacey outfits:
-"I was wearing my favorite white miniskirt with a new blue-and-white-striped sweater."
-"What about your white sweater and those blue-and-white polka-dot leggings?...You look great in that outfit, especially when you put that white bow in your hair."
snacks in claudia's room:
-m&ms (n.s.)
-pretzels (n.s.)
-red licorice (n.s.)
September 18, 2020
When I said the BSC Mysteries "jumped the shark", this is exactly the book I was thinking of.
and
And the thirteen year olds (PLUS THE EIGHT YEAR OLD THAT THEY'RE RESPONSIBLE FOR) catch the bad guy and get the evidence the police need to make the arrest and save the day. And of course the mysterious new cutie at school is tied up with all of this () It's just so far-fetched and ridiculous and DANGEROUS and yet we're only ten book into the Mystery series so you know it gets worse before it gets better.
"What should we do?" Charlotte asked.
"We should tell the police," I answered. "But we're not going to. I want to solve this case myself."
and
"I - I'm scared," said Charlotte.
"Me too," I admitted. "That's why I'm going to call Claudia and tell her to come down and wait with us."
And the thirteen year olds (PLUS THE EIGHT YEAR OLD THAT THEY'RE RESPONSIBLE FOR) catch the bad guy and get the evidence the police need to make the arrest and save the day. And of course the mysterious new cutie at school is tied up with all of this () It's just so far-fetched and ridiculous and DANGEROUS and yet we're only ten book into the Mystery series so you know it gets worse before it gets better.
May 4, 2017
Stacey inadvertently pays for a pair of earrings with a counterfeit ten dollar bill. Her humiliation is so great that she and the BSC become determined to clear her name. Such is privilege of rich, white girls. In an inane subplot Charlotte is traumatized by Stacey's questioning by the police. In another, slightly more interesting, but definitely ludicrous subplot, Stacey dates a boy whose father is in undercover federal agent.
Things I remember from reading this as a kid:
I remember buying this book at a store, and thinking, based on the cover, that Stacey's mother was the one who took her counterfeit money. The woman who's looking suspiciously at the money on the cover looks exactly like Stacey.
Charlotte acting like a total drama queen when Stacey is questioned about her counterfeit money by the police. I didn't mind Charlotte until this book, but after her behavior here she started to get on my nerves.
Claudia and Charlotte trying to copy a dollar bill as an art project. Charlotte acts like a total prig at first, telling Claudia that it's against the law to copy money, but Claudia has a lot more patience than I do, and tells her that it will be obvious that they are doing art, not fraud. Many years after I read this book I actually used this art project when I was an au pair in Australia, and the kids loved it. They made fake Australian dollars for days and days.
I remember being completely confused by the undercover family subplot. At the time I thought I just wasn't getting it, and that I was stupid for not getting it, but as an adult I realize that this was a silly plot, and that must have been why I was confused.
Things I've considered since reading this as an adult:
Stacey mentions Wes Ellenburg, the substitute teacher she had such a crush on. She says the thing she misses most about him was that he was so mature. Stacey is only thirteen, and already she has a daddy fetish, which is super sad and creepy to read.
When I worked in clothing retail we were trained to identify counterfeit bills, and the first time I was given one I acted just like Betty does in the book. I told my manager, who called the police, who confiscated the money, and infuriated the woman who was trying to use it. I still have bad memories of her screaming that she was going to sue me for harassment, and I had made her feel like a criminal when she wasn't one. I never, ever, ever called someone out on counterfeit money again. I even took a twenty once that was so obviously fake it was funny. Someone had drawn a (pretty decent) sketch of Andrew Jackson over George Washington.
Stacey's mother doesn't come to the police station to be with her daughter while she is questioned by the local police, and federal agents. I know Stacey did nothing wrong, but why are the police and feds questioning her without a parent present? This is ridiculous.
Charlotte's dramatics were much worse than I expected. She's so obnoxious that even Stacey, who usually dotes on Charlotte, is annoyed. The way she begs the police not to take Stacey away, and to arrest her too, and so on and so forth seems very out of character for Charlotte. She's supposed to be shy, and even though much is made about how Stacey has helped bring her out of her shell, she's still no Rosie Wilder, who's so confident when she talks to adults in positions of authority. It doesn't seem quite right for shy little Charlotte to be throwing herself at police, crying and begging. I can see an eight year old being traumatized when her beloved baby sitter she considers to be her sister gets taken away and questioned by the police. But in Charlotte's case I would think that her personality would cause her to withdraw, to cry a lot, and to become extra clingy. Her loud hysterics and theatrics sound more like a Karen Brewer reaction to trauma.
As an adult this book bothered me for an unexpected reason: I was infuriated by Stacey's white privilege. She's brought calmly into the police station, and questioned gently and kindly. She gets bored and tired, but those (and Cokie's snide comments) are the greatest injustices she faces. Kristy decides that none of their clients will trust them if word gets around that their baby sitters pass around counterfeit bills, because it seems totally believable that the goody-goody girls of the BSC would intentionally pass counterfeit bills. These girls make way too much about such a little thing to happen to one of them. Poor, sad, broken Stacey is reminded of her troubles with the Gardellas and the missing ring, and thinks "It didn't seem fair that these things kept happening to me." So the girls decide to solve the mystery to clear Stacey's name (as if her good name is ever in doubt, come on drama queens!) and save the reputation of their club. My god, these girls are sheltered and spoiled. To them counterfeiters are fun and games, so exciting! Oh my god, it's just like Nancy Drew! Then when Stacey (completely randomly and totally by chance) does run across the counterfeiter running from something (WHAT?? it's never explained) and finds the fake money he dropped, she instantly says, "We should tell the police. But we're not going to. I want to solve this case myself." What arrogance and stupidity! And she says this to her eight year old charge! What a way to be a role model Stacey. She gets scolded by Mr Hoyt (again, gently and kindly) and then told her "efforts" paid off and a picture of a guy picking up a canvas bag is exactly the missing piece the police need to take down the ring of counterfeiters. This is so stupid I can't even get my mind around it. The police have no proof (other than Stacey's word) that the canvas bag had fake money in it. A good defense attorney is going to poke holes in that, and I would love to see Stacey and her entitlement crack under questioning on the witness stand. (Of course, there's no mention that Stacey will be required to testify in criminal court, but I would assume she would have to, since she was the one who provided photos to the police.) If the police had actually caught the guy in the act of picking up a bag of what was suspected to be fake money, then they have more of a case. A teenager who claims she say him drop the bag, then when she checked the bag she "knew" it was counterfeit money, but she didn't plant that counterfeit money (even though she and her friends had been researching how to make it) is a terrible witness. Why, why didn't she notify the police? And why doesn't Mr Hoyt blow up at her for potentially blowing his chance at prosecution? You can bet that if Stacey weren't rich and white she would face some consequences for her stupidity. Also, if she were a person of color she wouldn't be outraged that she felt like she was treated like a suspect by the police. She would be resigned to it.
Kristy leaves her baby sitting charge alone while she gossips on the phone with a friend. He spills his milk, and lets it soak into the sofa before she can get off the phone to help him clean up. Isn't this the sort of behavior that she usually freaks out about? I thought good baby sitters never talked on the phone while they were supposed to be watching kids. In fact, I'm almost certain that at some point in the future of the series Kristy yells at Stacey for talking to Robert on the phone for so long that Jaime Newton makes a huge mess, and the Newtons complain about Stacey's chitchatting to Kristy.
Kristy thinks the Hoyts are the counterfeiters, since the problems started the same time they moved to town, and the kids don't like talking about their lives, or what their father does. As an adult this sounds really stupid, but it actually seems more plausible than Mr Hoyt being an undercover federal agent with a family who moves from town to town trying to catch counterfeiters. Stacey is outraged, but I have admit that even though the theory sounds ridiculous, the other baby sitters make a compelling case. To take the suspicion off Terry Stacey throws her innocent English teacher, Mr Fiske under the bus, hoping it will create reasonable doubt in the baby sitters minds, as if teachers don't have it hard enough. Stacey is the worst.
I like that Terry AKA David apologizes to Stacey for telling her his secret, thereby putting the burden of keeping a secret on her own shoulders. Supposedly if she tells anyone she could put the Hoyt's "lives in jeopardy". I like that Terry realizes it wasn't fair for him to put that pressure on Stacey. Sometimes secrets should stay secrets.
Stacey has a completely random scene with Sam Thomas at the end of the book. I wonder if the long term plot of the Sam and Stacey Story was to keep them "dating" for awhile more. But in the next book that features Stacey she meets Robert who becomes her serious boyfriend, and the reason why she drops out of the BSC. So I am completely confused by this random exchange of Sam saying he misses Stacey, and Stacey agreeing to go out with Sam.
Things I remember from reading this as a kid:
I remember buying this book at a store, and thinking, based on the cover, that Stacey's mother was the one who took her counterfeit money. The woman who's looking suspiciously at the money on the cover looks exactly like Stacey.
Charlotte acting like a total drama queen when Stacey is questioned about her counterfeit money by the police. I didn't mind Charlotte until this book, but after her behavior here she started to get on my nerves.
Claudia and Charlotte trying to copy a dollar bill as an art project. Charlotte acts like a total prig at first, telling Claudia that it's against the law to copy money, but Claudia has a lot more patience than I do, and tells her that it will be obvious that they are doing art, not fraud. Many years after I read this book I actually used this art project when I was an au pair in Australia, and the kids loved it. They made fake Australian dollars for days and days.
I remember being completely confused by the undercover family subplot. At the time I thought I just wasn't getting it, and that I was stupid for not getting it, but as an adult I realize that this was a silly plot, and that must have been why I was confused.
Things I've considered since reading this as an adult:
Stacey mentions Wes Ellenburg, the substitute teacher she had such a crush on. She says the thing she misses most about him was that he was so mature. Stacey is only thirteen, and already she has a daddy fetish, which is super sad and creepy to read.
When I worked in clothing retail we were trained to identify counterfeit bills, and the first time I was given one I acted just like Betty does in the book. I told my manager, who called the police, who confiscated the money, and infuriated the woman who was trying to use it. I still have bad memories of her screaming that she was going to sue me for harassment, and I had made her feel like a criminal when she wasn't one. I never, ever, ever called someone out on counterfeit money again. I even took a twenty once that was so obviously fake it was funny. Someone had drawn a (pretty decent) sketch of Andrew Jackson over George Washington.
Stacey's mother doesn't come to the police station to be with her daughter while she is questioned by the local police, and federal agents. I know Stacey did nothing wrong, but why are the police and feds questioning her without a parent present? This is ridiculous.
Charlotte's dramatics were much worse than I expected. She's so obnoxious that even Stacey, who usually dotes on Charlotte, is annoyed. The way she begs the police not to take Stacey away, and to arrest her too, and so on and so forth seems very out of character for Charlotte. She's supposed to be shy, and even though much is made about how Stacey has helped bring her out of her shell, she's still no Rosie Wilder, who's so confident when she talks to adults in positions of authority. It doesn't seem quite right for shy little Charlotte to be throwing herself at police, crying and begging. I can see an eight year old being traumatized when her beloved baby sitter she considers to be her sister gets taken away and questioned by the police. But in Charlotte's case I would think that her personality would cause her to withdraw, to cry a lot, and to become extra clingy. Her loud hysterics and theatrics sound more like a Karen Brewer reaction to trauma.
As an adult this book bothered me for an unexpected reason: I was infuriated by Stacey's white privilege. She's brought calmly into the police station, and questioned gently and kindly. She gets bored and tired, but those (and Cokie's snide comments) are the greatest injustices she faces. Kristy decides that none of their clients will trust them if word gets around that their baby sitters pass around counterfeit bills, because it seems totally believable that the goody-goody girls of the BSC would intentionally pass counterfeit bills. These girls make way too much about such a little thing to happen to one of them. Poor, sad, broken Stacey is reminded of her troubles with the Gardellas and the missing ring, and thinks "It didn't seem fair that these things kept happening to me." So the girls decide to solve the mystery to clear Stacey's name (as if her good name is ever in doubt, come on drama queens!) and save the reputation of their club. My god, these girls are sheltered and spoiled. To them counterfeiters are fun and games, so exciting! Oh my god, it's just like Nancy Drew! Then when Stacey (completely randomly and totally by chance) does run across the counterfeiter running from something (WHAT?? it's never explained) and finds the fake money he dropped, she instantly says, "We should tell the police. But we're not going to. I want to solve this case myself." What arrogance and stupidity! And she says this to her eight year old charge! What a way to be a role model Stacey. She gets scolded by Mr Hoyt (again, gently and kindly) and then told her "efforts" paid off and a picture of a guy picking up a canvas bag is exactly the missing piece the police need to take down the ring of counterfeiters. This is so stupid I can't even get my mind around it. The police have no proof (other than Stacey's word) that the canvas bag had fake money in it. A good defense attorney is going to poke holes in that, and I would love to see Stacey and her entitlement crack under questioning on the witness stand. (Of course, there's no mention that Stacey will be required to testify in criminal court, but I would assume she would have to, since she was the one who provided photos to the police.) If the police had actually caught the guy in the act of picking up a bag of what was suspected to be fake money, then they have more of a case. A teenager who claims she say him drop the bag, then when she checked the bag she "knew" it was counterfeit money, but she didn't plant that counterfeit money (even though she and her friends had been researching how to make it) is a terrible witness. Why, why didn't she notify the police? And why doesn't Mr Hoyt blow up at her for potentially blowing his chance at prosecution? You can bet that if Stacey weren't rich and white she would face some consequences for her stupidity. Also, if she were a person of color she wouldn't be outraged that she felt like she was treated like a suspect by the police. She would be resigned to it.
Kristy leaves her baby sitting charge alone while she gossips on the phone with a friend. He spills his milk, and lets it soak into the sofa before she can get off the phone to help him clean up. Isn't this the sort of behavior that she usually freaks out about? I thought good baby sitters never talked on the phone while they were supposed to be watching kids. In fact, I'm almost certain that at some point in the future of the series Kristy yells at Stacey for talking to Robert on the phone for so long that Jaime Newton makes a huge mess, and the Newtons complain about Stacey's chitchatting to Kristy.
Kristy thinks the Hoyts are the counterfeiters, since the problems started the same time they moved to town, and the kids don't like talking about their lives, or what their father does. As an adult this sounds really stupid, but it actually seems more plausible than Mr Hoyt being an undercover federal agent with a family who moves from town to town trying to catch counterfeiters. Stacey is outraged, but I have admit that even though the theory sounds ridiculous, the other baby sitters make a compelling case. To take the suspicion off Terry Stacey throws her innocent English teacher, Mr Fiske under the bus, hoping it will create reasonable doubt in the baby sitters minds, as if teachers don't have it hard enough. Stacey is the worst.
I like that Terry AKA David apologizes to Stacey for telling her his secret, thereby putting the burden of keeping a secret on her own shoulders. Supposedly if she tells anyone she could put the Hoyt's "lives in jeopardy". I like that Terry realizes it wasn't fair for him to put that pressure on Stacey. Sometimes secrets should stay secrets.
Stacey has a completely random scene with Sam Thomas at the end of the book. I wonder if the long term plot of the Sam and Stacey Story was to keep them "dating" for awhile more. But in the next book that features Stacey she meets Robert who becomes her serious boyfriend, and the reason why she drops out of the BSC. So I am completely confused by this random exchange of Sam saying he misses Stacey, and Stacey agreeing to go out with Sam.
September 30, 2017
I still legitimately love this one, even though it's completely ridiculous.
August 29, 2023
Pretty cool mystery.
A bit obvious that Stacey wasn't in any real trouble simply for trying to use a counterfeit bill. I doubt the police would seriously think a 13 year old masterminded these crimes. But I can also sympathize with how scary it must be for a 13 year old to even be involved in the first place, and for an 8 year old to witness it.
Also nice to see the origins of Terry Hoyt. He reappears in BSC Friends Forever: Kristy and the Kidnappers, and I had never heard of him before, so it was nice to see where he first appears.
I can also see why Kristy would've suspected Terry's family as the counterfeiters; they did show up around the same time. And the reveal that
A bit obvious that Stacey wasn't in any real trouble simply for trying to use a counterfeit bill. I doubt the police would seriously think a 13 year old masterminded these crimes. But I can also sympathize with how scary it must be for a 13 year old to even be involved in the first place, and for an 8 year old to witness it.
Also nice to see the origins of Terry Hoyt. He reappears in BSC Friends Forever: Kristy and the Kidnappers, and I had never heard of him before, so it was nice to see where he first appears.
I can also see why Kristy would've suspected Terry's family as the counterfeiters; they did show up around the same time. And the reveal that
September 18, 2023
This story is pretty fun. But none of those things work that way. I think the connection between counterfeiting and organized crime could maybe have been made more strongly, because I don't think the danger Stacey put herself in was really clear enough. Also, I think it would have been good to show how counterfeit bills have to be laundered, so they'll be used for small purchases to get lots of change back, or people will simply ask to get change for a twenty, for example. I also wish they didn't put so much emphasis on the idea of "criminal" as an identity, who "looks like a criminal" and who doesn't. And wtf was going on with this person just DROPPING a bag full of money in a parking lot and LEAVING it there for what seemed like a pretty long time?? That was a very strange deus ex machina. And was that tattoo meant to be the Ottoman crescent and star?? This book is fun but weird.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 7, 2017
Oh man. Gimme a break, ya'll. I never read this one as a kid, but now I see where David spawned from. We don't see him again, I don't think, until the Friends Forever Series book Kristy and the Kidnapper. So random. So strange. So BSC it hurts.
I could write a long review about everything in this that was insane. We don't have that kind of time though. So let me just say that, even for a BSC Mystery? This was pretty silly.
I could write a long review about everything in this that was insane. We don't have that kind of time though. So let me just say that, even for a BSC Mystery? This was pretty silly.
January 12, 2018
Don't judge others. One of my favorite characters was chrallot when she dosen't want to let stacey go from her.
September 7, 2021
The mysteries have been my jam lately. This one was easily solvable, and I have a very hard time seeing how this would at all affect the BSC's business except that they would be afraid to accept larger bills in case they were fake, but still. The Harriet the Spy-esque game was cute. (But wasn't it super irresponsible for the BSC to keep taking these kids on stakeouts?)
November 11, 2022
This was excellent! Stacy POV was a refreshing change- in the super specials her chapters always seem a little grumpy or self-absorbed but this book had wonderful descriptions of her friendship with Claudia, going on dates, and special relationship with babysitting charge Charlotte. The mystery was actually real, and involved criminals and police. I really loved it!
August 24, 2023
4 stars. Well, that was fun. Read like a Nancy Drew novel from the 80s, one of the Case Files series books. Stacey accidentally ends up with counterfeit money and gets in trouble for it so her and the BSC try to find who is responsible for making the fake money. It was very entertaining and I liked the way it wrapped up. I adore Stacey and her books hardly ever miss for me.
December 26, 2021
Charlotte Johanssen, the perfect little precocious princess, is my least favorite Stoneybrook child, so all her drama queen antics bugged me. I'm willing to suspend a lot of belief, but this was TOO much. Let's not even get into how ridiculous the entire plotline of this book is.
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September 19, 2020Read my recap at A Year with the BSC via Stoneybrook Forever: https://www.livethemovies.com/bsc-blo...
January 25, 2021
(LL)
This was fine. It’s decent for the mystery books of the series, as it’s better than most of the mysteries so far.
This was fine. It’s decent for the mystery books of the series, as it’s better than most of the mysteries so far.
October 27, 2021
I always forget how much I love these books until I read one again. Ah! I love the mystery ones even better than the regular series.
January 8, 2011
the babysitters read in the paper that some counterfeiters may be in the area. they make a note of it & move on. stacey has a crush on a new boy in school named terry hoyt. he has beautiful hazel eyes & stacey thinks he might have a crush on her too. he also has a twin sister named tasha & a little brother named georgie. the babysitters are discussing the hoyt family when mrs. hoyt happens to call, looking for a sitter for georgie. stacey wants the job so she can check out the hoyts' crib, but kristy gets it.
stacey is sitting for charlotte johanssen & they decide to go downtown & visit bellair's. stacey sees a nice headband she likes & she buys it, receiving $10 in change. she & the clerk joke about the counterfeiters & the clerk rolls her eyes & says people are making too big a fuss about it. stacey & charlotte continue on to a jewlery store, where stacey tries to buy a pair of earrings. she hands over then $10 she just got at bellair's, & the clerk informs her that it's a counterfeit bill & she'll have to call the police. not because she thinks stacey is the counterfeiter, but to report the bill. the police come & they want to question the jewelry clerk, the bellair's clerk, & stacey. charlotte grates on my nerves as she panics over stacey being arrested. shut the fuck up, charlotte.
stacey is pretty embarrassed about having unknowingly passed a counterfeit bill. especially because the bill turns up to be a motherfucking color copy of a ten-dollar bill. hello? there is a huge difference between the way money feels & the way laser jet printer paper paper feels. get a grip, people. stacey decides she needs to solve the counterfeiting case in order to "clear her name". even though her name is already clear.
a bunch of dumbass shit happens. the babysitters research counterfeiting methods. they stake out local copy machines. for a while, stacey thinks mr. fiske, her english teacher, may be the culprit. the babysitters even try to catch him in the act of photocopying a few extra bucks on the middle school copy machine, but he is of course just a ludicrous red herring.
when kristy sits for the hoyts, she finds a middle school ID card with what looks like tasha's face on it, but the name is different. & when looking for a mop to clean up a spill, she almost opens a closet door that causes georgie to panic. kristy begins to wonder if the hoyts are the counterfeiters. because, you know, it's usually a family affair, involving seven-year-olds, right? stacey is horrified. she thinks terry is too cute to be a counterfeiter.
oh, also, terry & stacey have been dating a little. because the only times stacey likes a dude that doesn't like her back is when the dude in question is too old for her according to the laws of the state of connecticut.
one day, stacey, charlotte, & someone else (mary anne, maybe) are meandering around downtown when some dude carrying a big sack of something goes running past them in a parking lot. they hide behind a car & notice that the dude has a little tattoo on his ear...just like a dude who claudia observed asking at a shop about printer cartridges. after the dude splits, stacey peeks into the bag & discovers that it's full of counterfeit money. really? is the bag also printed with a comically oversized dollar sign? why the fuck did the dude just drop this bag of money in parking lot? did he not notice that he dropped it? was he being chased? what the fuck? it makes NO SENSE WHATSOEVER. but they decide he has to come back for it (why? he dropped it--maybe it's a drop spot & he has a colleague they will not recognize coming back for it). stacey calls claudia & asks her to bring a camera. then she calls terry & he joins the stake-out.
sure enough, ear tattoo dude comes back & stacey snaps some photos of him picking up the bag. she says that she & terry will get the photos developed & take them to the cops. but then terry takes her aside & suggests that she go straight to his father with the photos. she's like, "oh shit, the hoyts ARE the counterfeiters!" but actually, terry explains that his real name is david hawthorne & his father is an undercover federal agent who travels--with his family--all over the country busting up crime rings of various types. they came to stoneybrook specifically to catch the counterfeiters. & the whole family has to assume new identities whenever they move...because that is a really sensible & smart way to raise well-adjusted children.
stacey brings her photos to mr. hoyt, who uses them to somehow nab the counterfeiters in a sting that is not properly explained. the hoyts make preparations to leave again. terry & stacey meet at a playground to say a special goodbye. terry explains that it would be too risky to write to one another, but he'll always remember stacey. pretty convenient. i bet he has a girl in every town. he also tells stacey that she must always keep his secret. she can't even tell her BSC friends. dramatic! & also, realistic, because who is better at keeping secrets than a 13-year-old, amirite?
this whole book is fucking ridiculous.
stacey is sitting for charlotte johanssen & they decide to go downtown & visit bellair's. stacey sees a nice headband she likes & she buys it, receiving $10 in change. she & the clerk joke about the counterfeiters & the clerk rolls her eyes & says people are making too big a fuss about it. stacey & charlotte continue on to a jewlery store, where stacey tries to buy a pair of earrings. she hands over then $10 she just got at bellair's, & the clerk informs her that it's a counterfeit bill & she'll have to call the police. not because she thinks stacey is the counterfeiter, but to report the bill. the police come & they want to question the jewelry clerk, the bellair's clerk, & stacey. charlotte grates on my nerves as she panics over stacey being arrested. shut the fuck up, charlotte.
stacey is pretty embarrassed about having unknowingly passed a counterfeit bill. especially because the bill turns up to be a motherfucking color copy of a ten-dollar bill. hello? there is a huge difference between the way money feels & the way laser jet printer paper paper feels. get a grip, people. stacey decides she needs to solve the counterfeiting case in order to "clear her name". even though her name is already clear.
a bunch of dumbass shit happens. the babysitters research counterfeiting methods. they stake out local copy machines. for a while, stacey thinks mr. fiske, her english teacher, may be the culprit. the babysitters even try to catch him in the act of photocopying a few extra bucks on the middle school copy machine, but he is of course just a ludicrous red herring.
when kristy sits for the hoyts, she finds a middle school ID card with what looks like tasha's face on it, but the name is different. & when looking for a mop to clean up a spill, she almost opens a closet door that causes georgie to panic. kristy begins to wonder if the hoyts are the counterfeiters. because, you know, it's usually a family affair, involving seven-year-olds, right? stacey is horrified. she thinks terry is too cute to be a counterfeiter.
oh, also, terry & stacey have been dating a little. because the only times stacey likes a dude that doesn't like her back is when the dude in question is too old for her according to the laws of the state of connecticut.
one day, stacey, charlotte, & someone else (mary anne, maybe) are meandering around downtown when some dude carrying a big sack of something goes running past them in a parking lot. they hide behind a car & notice that the dude has a little tattoo on his ear...just like a dude who claudia observed asking at a shop about printer cartridges. after the dude splits, stacey peeks into the bag & discovers that it's full of counterfeit money. really? is the bag also printed with a comically oversized dollar sign? why the fuck did the dude just drop this bag of money in parking lot? did he not notice that he dropped it? was he being chased? what the fuck? it makes NO SENSE WHATSOEVER. but they decide he has to come back for it (why? he dropped it--maybe it's a drop spot & he has a colleague they will not recognize coming back for it). stacey calls claudia & asks her to bring a camera. then she calls terry & he joins the stake-out.
sure enough, ear tattoo dude comes back & stacey snaps some photos of him picking up the bag. she says that she & terry will get the photos developed & take them to the cops. but then terry takes her aside & suggests that she go straight to his father with the photos. she's like, "oh shit, the hoyts ARE the counterfeiters!" but actually, terry explains that his real name is david hawthorne & his father is an undercover federal agent who travels--with his family--all over the country busting up crime rings of various types. they came to stoneybrook specifically to catch the counterfeiters. & the whole family has to assume new identities whenever they move...because that is a really sensible & smart way to raise well-adjusted children.
stacey brings her photos to mr. hoyt, who uses them to somehow nab the counterfeiters in a sting that is not properly explained. the hoyts make preparations to leave again. terry & stacey meet at a playground to say a special goodbye. terry explains that it would be too risky to write to one another, but he'll always remember stacey. pretty convenient. i bet he has a girl in every town. he also tells stacey that she must always keep his secret. she can't even tell her BSC friends. dramatic! & also, realistic, because who is better at keeping secrets than a 13-year-old, amirite?
this whole book is fucking ridiculous.
May 29, 2018
Stacey And The Mystery Money
PLOT: Basically Stacey gets taken to the police station when a bill she tries to pay for some earrings with is counterfeit money. It's been news in Stoney Brooke recently that there has been a string of these cases, but the thief isn 't caught. The BSC start to worry that if news gets out about Stacey clients will stop coming to them. So instead of leaving it to the police to solve the case, they take it upon themselves to play detective. Stacey also meets a new guy (Terry) that she thinks is hot but he and his family seem suspicious. They move around a lot, there's a closet in there house they won't let anyone near, and they have a stack of fake IDS.
MY THOUGHTS: This wasn't much of a mystery to me. I guess I've been reading and watching shows like this too long. !. I just kinda said to myself Terry and his family aren't the culprits. They're probably undercover agents and are trying to catch the culprit. When stuff is stacked up against the introduced new character 9x out of 10 it's not them. 2. I knew it wasn't the teacher because just because he's got a fancy copier and buying tons of supplies doesn't mean he's running off money. He's a TEACHER! I've seen how much stuff my aunt runs off and how much ink she uses on my copier. I thought I mean can't he just be running of test, assignments, etc. I thought that was such an unrealistic stretch for them that I wanted at least one of them to actually say "Uh he's a TEACHER". As for weird random tat guy. The tat was emphasized so strongly there might as well have been a big, red, flashing, light and an arrow going "THIS IS THE COUNTERFEITER! THIS IS THE COUNTERFEITER!" I think Terry does show up in another book but I wasn't moved by Stacey's brief romance with Terry because by the next book she'll have moved on to the next hot one.
RATING: 5
PLOT: Basically Stacey gets taken to the police station when a bill she tries to pay for some earrings with is counterfeit money. It's been news in Stoney Brooke recently that there has been a string of these cases, but the thief isn 't caught. The BSC start to worry that if news gets out about Stacey clients will stop coming to them. So instead of leaving it to the police to solve the case, they take it upon themselves to play detective. Stacey also meets a new guy (Terry) that she thinks is hot but he and his family seem suspicious. They move around a lot, there's a closet in there house they won't let anyone near, and they have a stack of fake IDS.
MY THOUGHTS: This wasn't much of a mystery to me. I guess I've been reading and watching shows like this too long. !. I just kinda said to myself Terry and his family aren't the culprits. They're probably undercover agents and are trying to catch the culprit. When stuff is stacked up against the introduced new character 9x out of 10 it's not them. 2. I knew it wasn't the teacher because just because he's got a fancy copier and buying tons of supplies doesn't mean he's running off money. He's a TEACHER! I've seen how much stuff my aunt runs off and how much ink she uses on my copier. I thought I mean can't he just be running of test, assignments, etc. I thought that was such an unrealistic stretch for them that I wanted at least one of them to actually say "Uh he's a TEACHER". As for weird random tat guy. The tat was emphasized so strongly there might as well have been a big, red, flashing, light and an arrow going "THIS IS THE COUNTERFEITER! THIS IS THE COUNTERFEITER!" I think Terry does show up in another book but I wasn't moved by Stacey's brief romance with Terry because by the next book she'll have moved on to the next hot one.
RATING: 5
November 24, 2023
This one was just dumb. It had an interesting start but went downhill soon after. It starts when Stacey goes shopping with Charlotte who is her sitting charge that day. She buys a headband gets ten dollars in change goes to buy a pair of earrings with that money at another store only to be told its counterfeit. Charlotte loses her mind and becomes more annoying and bratty than Claire Pike all through this book. She's convinced Stacey is in big trouble even though she isn't. The club decides to try and find the counterfeiters highjinxs ensue and of course they find him. There's a sort of plot about a new family in town the Hoyts. They have twins who are BSC age and Georgie who they baby sit. I remembered hearing about them when the son popped up in the Friends Forever series when Kristy and Abby went to DC. Anyway the day is secret service and they have yo ho undercover which I doubt would really happen. I feel in real life that dad would be out of town a lot and the wife and kids stay in one place. It's kind of dangerous not to mention confusing dragging your kids around like that. Anyway the sole highlight for me was Claudia mentioning Canadian dollar bills which I haven't seen in years. She also said there was a robin on them. It was actually the two dollar bill that had the robin not the one. But aside from that throwback not much to like in this book.
June 30, 2023
If I remember correctly, this is almost exactly like an early mystery book; the one about Stacey and a diamond ring.
July 6, 2014
It's good to know that the BSC archives are around to satisfy my needs for truly ridiculous plots and motivations. I remember that this one about tweens and eight-year-olds helping to catch counterfeiters (sort of--really, they happened to be around for a variety of coincidences due to a terrible plan they'd enacted) was purchased in conjunction with the one where Claudia (slightly more legitimately, IIRC) helps solve a mystery about a museum being robbed. I wonder what my parents thought when I proudly plucked these from the Waldenbooks shelf and demanded that I immerse myself in these plots immediately.
December 10, 2020
This is very dumb, unfortunately. The book makes a halfhearted attempt at setting up some alternative suspects, but the girls' spying all comes to nothing when the answer to the mystery is quite literally dumped in their laps. The plots for the mystery books were always the shakiest, but this one is particularly weak.
October 15, 2023
I liked how Stacey and Charlotte went shopping, but thought this book overall was unrealistic, from how Stacey was questioned by police about counterfeit money, to putting herself, her friends and baby sitting charges by spying on a potential suspect. They caught him and all was safe in Stoneybrook
September 28, 2010
I like this cover - Charlotte looks cute. Not exactly as I'd pictured her, but cute :)
But what a story *shakes head*. BSC meets Famous Five... or Nancy Drew I guess it should be, considering Claudia, but the ages fit better for Famous Five ;)
But what a story *shakes head*. BSC meets Famous Five... or Nancy Drew I guess it should be, considering Claudia, but the ages fit better for Famous Five ;)
April 29, 2009
Counterfeit money! Quite exciting - possibly the first I'd ever actually heard of/about counterfeiting at all, so there was that added thrill.
Read
November 22, 2012(One of the few I actually remember reading.)
May 6, 2021
Loved these books as a child
January 22, 2026
I looooovveeee this book
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